Agents of the Silver Masks - an adventure module for the Tales of Gor RPG

Agents of the Silver Masks

An 'add on' adventure module by Emma R. for the 'Tales of Gor' role-playing game.

Overview

This isn't a stand alone adventure module as such, and so it isn't really written to be played on its own without a lot of work (and without losing a lot of the context). To use it you will really need a copy of the 'Tales of Gor' scenario, 'The Silver Cult' (you can read my review of it here: The Silver Cult review ). 'Agents of the Silver Masks' plugs a gap in the main module in Scene Three (Degradation and Diplomacy) where the player characters are captured by the Silver Mask conspiracy and they face being thrown into the silver mines in chains.

One of the options in that scene is that it is possible for the player characters to throw in their lot with the Silver Mask conspirators, either genuinely, or as a ruse in order to then overthrow them at a later date. This scenario therefore offers you an alternative story path that can be used if the characters do choose to go down that route, for whatever reason.

Bearing in mind the nature of the 'Tales of Gor' game, it is most likely that player characters would fake enthusiasm for the women's cause and simply pretend to join the Silver Masks in order to buy themselves time and to avoid the alternative of being slaves in the mines. But it is I suppose possible that the player characters may genuinely suddenly decide that what Gor needs is a cruel Matriarchy taking over and subjugating the natural order of Gor. Stranger things have been known to happen...

The approach to take depends very much on whether the player characters are genuine in their offer to side with the Silver Masks or if they're simply faking. If in doubt, there is no harm in the GM asking them out of character. The GM after all is telling a story, and is not in competition with the players.

Option One: It's all a deceitful ruse!

But of course! Your heroes are Gorean after all, and they're hardly likely to side with a conspiracy of women trying to subvert the way things should be, are they? Going down this route, it should be obvious that the players will try to escape the conspiracy the first chance they get, and so in order to make the scenario work you will play Spartacrix as being naturally suspicious of their enthusiasm for her cause. Her suspicion however is tempered with the unavoidable fact that she does have an actual need for them.

This means that when she despatches them on a vital mission where they can prove their loyalty to the cause, she will keep one of the party behind as a 'guest'. The implication is clear. If they do not return, then their friend will soon be Sleen feed. The characters now have a reason to carry on their deception rather than simply bolt and run the first chance they get, at least until they can figure out how to save their friend.

Role-play groups often meet with one of the players absent due to other commitments, and so it is simple enough to state that the absent player character is the one kept behind by Spartacrix. Alternatively if your games are so good that no one ever misses a single session, the answer will be for one of the players to temporarily run an NPC supplied by the GM. The nature of the NPC I leave up to you, but the best choice would probably be another man who has opted to apparently serve the Silver Mask women instead of being thrown into the silver mines to work and die, and whose sword brother possibly remains behind at the estate in order to ensure his loyalty. One of the archetype character templates from the main rule book can easily be used as a temporary NPC character sheet.

Option Two: Actually, isn't it about time women did rule Gor?

Really? Really?? Well, okay. After you've maybe shown the players how vicious these Silver Mask women can be, if they do still truly believe they will build a new Utopia, then you can have Spartacrix absolutely convinced of their genuine enthusiasm for the cause, in which case there is no need for a hostage and all the player characters can take part in what comes next.

Act One: Heroes for the Cause!

The first thing to stress is that Spartacrix is not going to take any chances until the characters are off on their great adventure, leaving a hostage behind. The initial conversation, briefing and any questions asked/answered will all be conducted under the watchful eye of a number of women carrying loaded crossbows.

“My apologies for the implied threat those crossbows offer,” says Spartacrix, “but I find the prospect of sudden and quite final death to be an excellent deterrent to foolish and impulsive acts.”

The characters will be offered a rather tasty ka-la-na, which does suggest that a vicious Matriarchy would at least have decent wine cellars, and then Spartacrix will get down to business. She introduces the party to the Lady Reena. The Lady Reena will be travelling with them, partly to make an assessment of their capabilities and loyalty to the cause, and partly because she has a mission to make contact with 'sympathetic parties' in the city of Tharna who will be of assistance to the women.

Unfortunately, Tharna being what it is right now, Lady Reena is reluctant to travel there on her own.

“The situation in the city these days is quite intolerable,” she will say with a haughty sniff. “Where once a Free Woman could walk proudly, the women of Tharna are now forced to endure humiliating and demeaning conditions that make even the worst cities of Gor seem pleasant in comparison.”

She is of course referring to the fact that virtually all women in Tharna are now treated as slaves. This makes it problematical for her, or any other member of the conspiracy to turn up at the city gates on their own.

“I need to meet a contact within the city walls and receive valuable papers that will aid our worthy cause. But sadly...” her voice quavers a touch as she considers what she has to do, “within the walls of Tharna I will have to appear to be a common Kajira to blend in with the other women there, and so I will need to travel with men who know of my deception and can guide me to the place of my meeting.”

In other words, the Lady Reena expects the characters to get her to Tharna safely, and once there, she will don the tunic and collar of a Kajira, playing a role within the city walls, and rely on them to keep her safe and chaste.

She obviously doesn't look too happy about the mission, and it's certainly true (if anyone enquires) that the Lady Reena quite literally drew the short straw in deciding who would do this. Every other Silver Mask woman is secretly relieved that she doesn't have to go instead.

If anyone enquires further, they might learn that the Lady Reena is 'white silk', though that would be a very delicate question to ask under the present circumstances.

The Lady Reena states rather haughtily that she will be in charge throughout the mission of course.

“Do not think that once I dress myself in the demeaning tunic of a slave-girl, that my status has changed a jot. While it is true I will not be able to command you in public, I will expect you all to take note of any subtle signals of discomfort I may show, and act accordingly. I will expect you all to strive hard to ensure I am not humiliated in any way.”

Should the player characters only be pretending to side with the Silver Mask women, then it is possible they may be looking forward to escorting the proud Lady Reena into the city in the guise of a slave-girl...

It goes without saying that any female members of the character group will probably have to dress in a slave tunic and collar to enter Tharna as well.

Act Two: The Journey to Tharna

It soon becomes apparent what an insufferable bitch the Lady Reena is. From the moment the party set out on their journey, she does nothing but complain the whole time. The characters are either walking too fast, or they're walking too slowly. They're not making camp when she wants them to, or they're asking too many insufferable questions, like when does she want them to make camp?

She will expect them to prepare camp and do all the cooking. It will come as no surprise that she is a very fussy eater, and whatever they prepare is unlikely to impress her.

She will be especially aloof towards another Free Woman in the party, seeing her as something of a rival, and will practise a kind of passive aggressive form of conversation with her, pretending to say nice things, but always ensuring the nice things have double meanings and actually come across as veiled slights on her character.

If the party includes any slave-girls (either player characters or NPCs) she will be horrible towards them, calling them sluts, and she will be deeply offended by any open displays of sexuality.

Play this scene a bit for laughs for as long as it works.

Lady Reena carries with her a small satchel containing a slave tunic and a collar (with a key). At some point before they group reaches the gates of Tharna she will have to change into these things, but obviously she wishes to put this off for as long as possible. What becomes apparent is that she grows increasingly anxious the closer the group gets to Tharna, and with good reason.

The random encounter table on page 7 of 'The Silver Cult' can be used for short role-play scenes during the journey, or you can use my upcoming Gorean encounter table which I'll publish on the Emma of Gor website shortly! (plug, plug).

Lady Reena's ordeal:

At some point the Lady Reena is going to have to get into character. Despite her reluctance to do so, it is quite possible that certain player characters may urge her to do so 'sooner rather than later', for “it takes a while to get into and perfect a role, Lady, and you must be note perfect by the time we reach Tharna.”

If the characters wish her to step into the role of slave-girl sooner rather than later, let them role-play arguments for her to do so. In the tradition of the Gor books, allow comically ludicrous arguments to be extremely convincing.

At some point however, she will have to swap her robes of concealment for a slave tunic and collar, no matter what. She will of course do this in a secluded spot, with the characters looking the other way. When they next see her she will be breathtakingly beautiful in a short slave tunic.

One might almost suggest she is slave beautiful...

From that point on the GM should turn to the appendix rules in the back of the Silver Cult module that cover 'Slave Breaking' and begin the process of dice rolls for each subsequent indignity that the haughty Lady Reena has to endure, for gradually the experience may begin to affect her.

Make a point of rolling first when she has to change into the tunic and collar (she will elect to place the collar around her own neck, but if a player character wishes to do that for her, let him make a suitable skill roll – there are plenty to choose from – Confidence, Charisma, Charm, Convince etc). If a player character locks the collar about her throat, instead of her doing it herself, that is an extra dice check on the slave breaking system.

Gradually as her willpower/resistance erodes, the haughty Lady Reena will become less sure of herself, and more susceptible to being influenced by skill checks from player characters with the skills Intimidation or Slave Handling (plus others at the GM's discretion).

Obviously if the player characters convince her to don the slave tunic sooner rather than later, then there is more time for her willpower to gradually erode.

The Silver Cult module lists many things that might provoke a slave break test in a Free Woman on page 32.

Act Three: The Gates of Tharna

By now the Lady Reena will be playing the role of a slave-girl, and she will be fuming inside at every indignity she has to endure until she can meet her contact.

And blaming the player characters for everything that happens to her.

Feel free to play this for laughs and have random encounters occur at the gates and as the party travel into the city.

Lady Reena will expect the player characters to do their utmost to help her avoid these encounters, and if they fail (deliberately or otherwise) she will go into a complete rage with them at the first opportunity when they are in private.

“You made me eat slave gruel! How dare you make me eat slave gruel! This is intolerable!”

However, the more her willpower reduces from her ordeals, the less assertive she will be. Make it clear to the players the effect each successive fail is having on her. If the characters are only pretending to be going along with this mission, then hint to them that if and when Lady Reena 'breaks' they will have a powerful psychological advantage over her that will prove useful.

The following three encounters are suggested, but the GM should feel free to create others:

1) At the gates the guardsmen state that a beautiful slave-girl was recently stolen from a neighbouring villa and they have orders to check each girl who is brought into the city for an easily identifiable birthmark on her body. They wish to rudely handle and possibly strip Lady Reena to ensure she isn't stolen property. This would definitely count towards a slave break test.

2) Inside Tharna a group of wealthy and idle men are rather taken by the beautiful, long legged Lady Reena and they approach and offer the group a generous sum of money for her use. It's unlikely that the group would go so far as to say yes (if so, then that's a definite slave break test) but while the offers are being made, one of the young men rather arrogantly places his hands on Lady Reena, and assesses her intimately, which aside from anything else is something of a breach of protocol amongst strangers and the rules regarding personal property. If any of the characters are warriors they would probably deem this as an insult akin to someone walking up and test driving your car without your permission.

3) There are still a few Free Women in Tharna (though they are very, very rare), and one of them is in the street (with guards) when Lady Reena accidentally jostles her. The Free Woman is quite naturally outraged and slaps Lady Reena, thinking her a slave. She will (in a very loud voice) insist that Reena's owner whips the clumsy girl. This attracts a lot of attention. Ordinarily a slave would be whipped for such an infraction, but the characters may be reluctant to do so. This could be a problem, because to not whip the slave would seem so unusual that the characters may then come to the attention of the guardsmen who then take an interest in them. Choosing to whip/beat Lady Reena (no matter how lightly) would count towards a slave break test.

Act Four: The Prancing Sleen

It turns out that the meeting place is a paga tavern in Tharna called The Prancing Sleen sometime after nightfall. It also turns out that the lovely Lady Reena didn't actually know it was a paga tavern until the group makes enquiries where it is located.

“I thought it was a respectable cafe!” she will say in dismay as she sees the disreputable venue for the very first time.

Getting the Lady Reena in to the paga tavern is simple enough, as she is obviously a slave girl.

All she knows is that contact is to be made by a member of the party asking the owner (a man called Publius) the following question:

“Do you serve Bazi tea here?” (something no one is ever likely to say by accident in a paga tavern).

He will respond, “No, but we do have some excellent teas from Schendi.”

To which the character replies, “but not as excellent as the ones from Anango.”

Provided the exchange takes place (which it will if the characters talk to Publius) then they will be offered the use of a private side room in which to 'partake of their tea'. There they will be given the set of papers in a sealed packet.

Before they can do any of this however, the long suffering Lady Reena has a further indignity to endure in her role as a slave girl in Tharna.

A sign in the entrance to the tavern when they arrive, states quite clearly that 'all privately owned Kajira must be chained to iron rings set into the east wall.' A moment's enquiry will reveal a row of iron rings with corresponding collar chains. Two bored looking slave-girls are currently leashed there by their collar rings and are discussing the relative virility of their Masters in intimate detail.

Lady Reena will of course be horrified at the prospect of being chained to a slave ring with the other Kajirae, and will as usual try to give off subtle signals that this mustn't happen (subtle signals that by now the player characters may be pretending to not notice). And of course if Lady Reena is chained to the slave rings, that counts as another slave break check.

“Please don't leave me here... please don't leave me here...” are the words the characters will hear as the other two highly competitive slave girls turn their attention on the new arrival now kneeling beside them.

After the code signs are exchanged, Publius will tell the characters to wait half an hour in the tavern while he sends for a man called 'Cernus.' He will offer the characters paga on the house, and of course the paga slaves working in his establishment come complimentary with the drinks. There are pleasure alcoves lining the tavern that the player characters may make use of if they so wish.

Doing so refreshes them and puts them in such an excellent frame of mind for the upcoming ordeals, that any character making use of a paga slave in one of the alcoves receives a +1 pip bonus (see page 33 of the Silver Cult). If any character doing so happens to have the 'Pleasure' skill, then a successful dice roll means he is still in there, having lost track of the time, when Publius comes to inform the group that 'Cernus' is waiting for them in the private side room. If the character breaks off early to attend the meeting, he loses the potential +1 pip. Alternatively he can simply tell everyone to wait until he is finished...

Act Five: 'Cernus'

The private room is poorly lit, that is to say, hardly lit at all, when the characters are led quietly inside. As well as the door that the characters pass through, the room has a second door that opens out into a side alley. That door is bolted from the inside. Publius knows nothing of what is going on, except that he has been paid a goodly sum of money to allow his tavern to be used for this meeting. This means that any questioning of Publius before or after the meeting will get little in the way of information.

Cernus sits cross-legged in shadow at a low table, and he motions for the characters to do the same. He wears a hood so his face cannot be seen.

What happens next is purely misdirection. The real Cernus is dead, and this man is only here to identify the characters. The half an hour delay has simply been arranged to allow time for armed men with sullen expressions to skulk outside the tavern with the intention of killing the player characters when they eventually leave. To this end, 'Cernus' says very little, but provides a sealed packet of papers in waterproof oil skin, as he is expected to do, with the instructions,

“Conceal these papers about your person, and do not open them until you are somewhere safe. I wish you wind and steel.”

In actual fact the papers are random notes of gibberish and nothing of any importance, but the player characters won't know this until they slit the packet open.

It is always possible that the characters may not trust 'Cernus' (though they have no reason to feel that way). If they suddenly threaten or attack him, he will draw steel, throw open the bolt on the side door and shout for his men to come to his aid. The armed men in the next act will take three combat rounds to reach 'Cernus'. If Cernus is killed before the end of the third round, a player character can make a suitable speed check to slam the bolt shut, though they will still have the problem of getting out of the tavern without facing the men in the street. But all of this is quite unlikely, in which case the attack will occur shortly after they leave the tavern.

The Lady Reena is in quite a state by the time the players characters return to the east wall to claim her and free her from the collar ring.

“That was beyond horrible! The slave girls were bullies! They said I was least among them! They pulled my hair and made me call them Mistress! Never leave me like that again!” she wails.

Act Six: Steel Blades in the Night

A number of unsavoury men with grim demeanours and sharp edged short swords await the characters as they leave the Prancing Sleen paga tavern. It is likely that the characters will be distracted at first by the fresh complaints being directed at them by the aggrieved Lady Reena.

“This is intolerable! I feel it is probably well overdue for me to give you a frank assessment of your performance to date, which I must say has been sorely lacking as far as protecting my dignity is concerned! To begin with...”

She will then go on to list in detail all the indignities she has suffered since she swapped her robes of concealment for a collar and slave tunic. By now it may be an impressive list, and by now the characters may be growing tired of her constant complaints.

Assuming the characters are paying attention to her, you can safely assume they are distracted enough to be taken by surprise when the ruffians show themselves.

You, the GM know that these ruffians, and the man who was pretending to be Cernus (Theteles by name), are members of a special unit of Tharna Guardsmen who operate covertly to root out subversion within the city. They recently caught wind of Cernus's activities as an agent of the Kurii and learnt that he would be passing on highly confidential papers to a Silver Mask conspiracy. Sadly Cernus died on the torture racks before he could divulge the location of the precious papers, due to the actions of an over zealous torturer. They did learn however the location of the meet and the code words that would be given. All they had to do was wait for someone from the conspiracy to turn up.

You essentially want to stage manage this fight so that the characters have a tough battle, but come out on top. Take advantage of the fact the streets are dark and therefore it’s difficult for the characters to really know how many men are out there. Let the attackers come in waves as necessary to keep the fight going for many rounds, perhaps turning the fight into a running street battle through narrow alleyways and side passages. Begin with a number of attackers equal to the player characters plus one, and then if they’re having too easy a time of it, add a few more from the shadows.

You don’t want to kill the characters, but you want to make them sweat.

The Lady Reena will scream as soon as the attack begins. Generally speaking she will be a liability in the fight, getting in the way, being seized by an attacker, that sort of thing. If a player character is having a particularly easy time of it, due perhaps to really good dice rolls, feel free to frustrate him by having a hysterical Lady Reena suddenly grab his sword arm, screaming, “save me!” at an opportune moment that will make things a bit more difficult.

The players should eventually be able to escape, running blindly into the back streets of Tharna, taking advantage of the darkness to avoid the attackers, and leaving multiple bodies behind them as they go. If they are the kind of people who simply stand their ground and fight until all the enemy are dead, hint that it’s not clear how many attackers are actually out there, and that this gradual attrition is likely to be bad for them in the long run if they don’t beat a fighting retreat.

By the time the characters manage to catch their breath, they have no idea where they are, except that it’s in the more run down area of Tharna.

As for the Lady Reena, she is breathless, wide eyed, and feeling very out of her depth now. The characters will notice that in the scuffle the front of her slave tunic was ripped open by one of the men, from the neckline to almost her waist. She is now holding the skimpy garment together with both hands. From this point on she will be extremely reluctant to do anything that requires the use of her hands, for to do so would be to reveal her breasts.

The Package

It is likely that the player characters may now decide to check the contents of the oil skin package that is the prize they came for. When they do so, they will discover the contents amount to nothing more than wads of gibberish stuffed together to bulk out the packet. If they are in doubt that the papers are worthless, have Lady Reena confirm it, as you don’t want the players to go down a wild goose chase thinking it’s some overly elaborate code that they have to decipher.

If the players choose to question Lady Reena for what she knows, her responses will depend on her current state of will from all the break tests she’s been making. If by some fluke she remains strong willed, she will refuse to tell them anything about the papers except that she must have them.

“You overstep your selves! Remember who is in charge here!”

If on the other hand her experiences have greatly eroded her will power, and a man in particular speaks to her in a commanding voice, then she will tell the party that the papers are the names and addresses of all the high ranking members of the (male) Tharna council (of various castes) with enough blackmail evidence to mean they could be manipulated by her colleagues.

She will also inform the characters that from what she saw, they were attacked by members of the covert city guard, which means the authorities in Tharna must know that they are looking for the papers.

The players may ask Reena about ‘Cernus’ – which is the lead to the next act. If they don’t, have Reena ask who it was they spoke to, and when they mention his name, she will recognise it. Either way, this is what she knows about Cernus.

“He must be our contact. I was never entrusted with his name, but I know of him. Between you and I he is a boorish individual, vulgar and prone to demeaning remarks pertaining to Free Women, but he has aided us in the past for he serves strange Masters who also desire the overthrow of the status quo.”

Without realising it she is referring to the shadowy Enemy of Gor – the agents of the Kurii, of whom Cernus was one.

“But of course!” she adds. “If anyone could compile such valuable information for our use, it would be Cernus. Perhaps if we go to his place of residence, we may find the true papers that we seek. It is uncommon knowledge that Cernus keeps his most precious papers in a secret panel in his study, behind a painting of a great Tarn in flight. If we might gain entrance to his house, one of you might be able to steal into his study while we keep the residents there occupied and steal the precious papers…”

Act Seven: The House of Cernus.

“This is awkward,” says the Lady Reena as she gazes at the front of the House of Cernus. “I had no idea he was a slaver…”

For indeed the House of Cernus is a small scale slave business dealing in the cheaper end of the slave market.

Normally it wouldn’t be open at this late hour, but as chance would have it, lights are on and there is a sign outside proclaiming ‘Midnight slave assessments! Have you grown tired of your Kajira? Are you considering trading her in for a new girl? Why not bring her along for a Free Assessment with no obligation, and see what she is worth? Complimentary buffet and ka-la-na provided gratis.”

There are already a few Masters in there, visible through the windows, having their slave-girls professionally assessed by experienced slavers.

“You are not seriously considering…” says the Lady Reena as no doubt the characters are thinking just that. “No! I forbid it! There has to be another way!”

Assuming the players don’t think of another ruse to enter the building (or they can think of another ruse, but prefer this one) then they have the opportunity of taking the Lady Reena in to be assessed by one of Cernus’s staff as an excellent excuse for them to be inside the house. The protests form Lady Reena will be considerable. How the players react to those frantic protests is up to them.

The slave assessment doesn’t necessarily have to be role-played. You can gloss over it with just a few generalised descriptions. The main role-play will be the opportunity for one or more of the characters to steal away and find Cernus’s study to locate the Tarn painting and find the secret panel with the precious blackmail papers inside.

In the meantime, the Lady Reena is professionally and intimately assessed by the slaver, and put through a number of very demeaning paces, much to her dismay. This is worth another break test at a significant modifier against her will power. It is very likely that his may break her if she hasn’t been broken already.

Depending on how the scenario is going, include a few tense moments while the players search for the study – have them almost spotted from time to time by guards, and have them make various stealth rolls and perhaps have them duck into side rooms before they can be seen. Perhaps one of the side rooms has a couple of slaves chained to floor rings, part of the stock that will soon be on sale.

If your group of players particularly like combat, then have an encounter while they’re sneaking through the darkened area of the house where they are surprised by a guardsman and the characters have to kill or incapacitate him quickly before he can raise the alarm. They would then ideally have to find somewhere to hide the body or risk further detection if someone stumbles across it.

Once they have the incriminating papers, it is a simple enough matter to make some excuses and leave, but not before the slaver offers them a frank and obligation free assessment of their ‘slave’, the Lady Reena.

“Despite her lack of training, she has great potential. Easily aroused, quite docile and submissive after application of three strokes of a slave crop, responds well to the caress of a whip and shows all the signs of stimulation you might hope for. A prize catch that could easily be worth a silver Tarsk at the moment but much, much more in the long term with training. Do you by chance wish to sell her?”

The Lady Reena is now on her knees, looking the worse for wear, her face flushed from the assessment. She is uncharacteristically quiet and has her eyes downcast towards the man's sandals.

It is unlikely that the group would choose to sell her, but if they chose to, the House of Cernus would offer a silver Tarsk. Such is her potential, that they might be gradually bartered upwards to two silver Tarsks, but some bargaining rolls combined with suitable role-play conversation would be required.

Act Eight: Decision Time

The group now have the precious papers and they will need to decide what they wish to do with them.

They can of course take them back to the Silver Masks, mission accomplished and if so they will have proven their loyalty to the cause, their comrade will be released, and they may even be rewarded, for the materials in the packet are of great value to the conspiracy. They are free to leave, or they might remain to work further for the cause (though that casts quite a different slant on a potential Gor campaign).

Alternatively, they can use these materials to gain an audience with Kron, the administrator of Tharna (see page 19 in the Silver Cult module) where they can reveal all they know about the conspiracy to date and explain how they were forced to do what they did for their friend's sake. The presence of the materials in their possession will be a boon to convincing him that their loyalties are with the city of Tharna and not with the conspiracy. Follow the notes presented in the Silver Cult module from that point on, relating to the possibility of Kron supplying them with a force of warriors with which to attack the nearby estate.

Finally there is the matter of the Lady Reena who may by this time be ruined as far as Freedom is concerned. If they return to the conspiracy, it will be evident to the other Silver Mask women that the Lady Reena has succumbed to natural slave feelings, and she will be met with derision when this becomes evident. Elsewhere she would probably be enslaved, but at the villa she will be seriously demoted to a menial status within the conspiracy. Effectively her once high status will be ruined and she will work as little more than a servant. The other women will hate and despise her for what she has become.

If he characters do not return the papers to the conspiracy, preferring instead to use the resources and might of Tharna to free their friend, then the question of Lady Reena’s fate becomes more open to debate.

Kron will spend some time questioning her, but afterward he will return the girl to the characters to do with as they wish. They can keep her as a slave or sell her or anything else that occurs to them.

If she is broken (as well she might be by now) she will crawl to the strongest man in the group and beg his collar, pleading not to be killed or sold. Her days of haughty freedom it seems are gone.

As Above, or So Below

This assumes the characters choose not to come clean with the city authorities, and decide instead to return to the estate with the papers.

Getting out of Tharna after the street battle is going to be problematical, as assuming the player characters littered the streets close to the Prancing Sleen with dead and wounded bodies, the gates to the city are now going to be on lock down. Every guardsman in the city has been alerted that a highly efficient band of armed agents are cutting a swathe through the brave fighting men of Tharna. No one gets out through a city gate without first having their papers checked. Anyone with foreign papers will be taken for intense questioning, especially if they haven’t been to Tharna before.

It should be easy for players to determine this from the commotion close to any city gate they approach and it will be apparent that chancing their luck this way is fraught with danger. It is possible to get out this way, but players will have to be pretty good at talking their way out of trouble and sweeping aside any suspicion, or else they’re in for one hell of a fight. Even if they suddenly cut their way through the guards at a gate and made a run for it, Tharna's Tarnsmen would be launched into the air to pursue them across the flat open ground that typically surrounds a city.

I leave it up to the GM to arrange the necessary slaughter that might occur if a couple of dozen Tarnsmen attacked a party fleeing across open ground in loose order.

If the players look like they're going to do something as rash and ill thought out as that, have the Lady Reena tell them how dangerous this is.

There are a couple of other options.

As Above:

Player characters who can handle Tarns might suggest they make their way to a city Tarn Cot and take a city Tarn (or two) by force and fly out of the city that way. The Tarn Cots will be guarded by a few armed men, but it should be possible to take them by surprise. In true Gorean tradition, clever players might distract them briefly by sending some slaves girls with botas of paga up to please them. They might even use a stripped and protesting Lady Reena to get their attention while they then sneak up on the guardsmen from behind.

Assuming they fly out on the Tarns, they will enjoy a good head start on any pursuers who might then saddle up.

Or So Below:

Alternatively, the Lady Reena will be able to tell them of some long forgotten and abandoned sewer tunnels that lead to an outlet away from the city walls. There is a rusted grille at the furthest end that appears to be locked in place but can actually be lifted up from inside the tunnel. It is hidden by thick bushes that have been cultivated over its entrance mouth. The access to the dried up sewer system can be located in a back street that Reena can guide the players to.

It requires strength rolls from at least two men simultaneously to lift the iron grate. The characters will need light sources of some kind (hi-tech energy bulbs would be ideal, otherwise old fashioned torches). The flickering torches will show the way out as the flames will flicker towards the tunnel mouth.

Urts in the sewer system are likely to flee from torch carrying characters, but they won’t be nearly as scared of energy bulbs. Otherwise they may make a vicious nuisance of themselves.

It takes maybe ten to fifteen minutes to thread your way through the tunnels. If Reena is still bare foot, she will be squealing each time she puts her foot down into anything squishy. If the characters are worried about making any noise, it may be necessary to gag her. She will of course protest loudly at this, unless she is broken, or close to being broken.

The network of sewer tunnels is unfortunately home to a large Sleen. Just when the rusted grille at the outlet mouth is sighted, with daylight possibly streaming through it (depending on the time) the creature will spring out from a side tunnel and attack. It will snap at a player character (not Reena – though if she is not gagged, she will start screaming herself hoarse) and it will be necessary to fight the creature off.

The grille at the other end of the tunnel hasn’t been lifted in quite some time. Some good strength dice rolls from a couple of strong men will be required to shift it.

The characters may be aware as they pass through the tunnels that there are occasionally overhead grilles in the tunnel ceiling to allow rain water to wash down from the street above. This also means that sound can travel. If the battle with the sleen creature lasts longer than 4 combat rounds, roll for each round after the fifth to determine whether anyone in the street above hears the commotion and alerts guardsmen that someone may be trying to exit the city through the sewer system. A roll of '1' on 1D6 means this happens.

Once the characters manage to get through the exit, provided the noise they made in the sewer tunnels hasn't alerted guardsmen in the city above, they then have a clear run to safety. 

Slaver House picture created by Necrella who posts as Gorean-Art